TV Review: 'Summer Heights High'

This is the part where I act like an authority on entertainment, and criticize the work of professionals who are, without exception, more successful than I in the industry in which we both work. Some people would say this is proof I have "balls", or "chutzpah" in Jewspeak. Others would say it's proof I'm a "douchebag". To catch up on any old reviews, you can find the link on the right hand side of the page, or just click here.

The previews I saw of HBO’s new sit-com, ’Summer Heights High’ didn’t interest me much. The gag of one actor playing multiple characters became exhausted sometime around the second “Nutty Professor” movie. But Chris Lilley, an award-winning writer/actor/comedian from Australia is more Peter Sellers than recent-era Eddie Murphy. That is to say, the laughs come more from the people's internal flaws than from their external ones. He has an amazing gift for characterization, the small habits and details -- dress, body english, expressions, vocabulary -- which make people feel real. This realness then becomes a wellspring from which the comedy can flow freely.

We laugh because the character quirks are at once ridicluous and familiar. We’ve all known the self-righteous know-it-all who feels the need to leave helpful, instructive notes around the breakroom, or the kid with no attention span or discline whatsoever, or the plastic, self-involved bitch. Lilley brings those three people to life in this mockumentary about a public high school in Australia and exposes all their flaws -- as well as the acidic atmosphere at many public schools -- for maximum comedic effect.

The fact that you can buy the 33-year-old Lilley as a teenage girl tells you how far he gets into character. That character is Ja’mie King, a holdover from Lilley’s previous show in America, ’The Nominees’, which aired on IFC and was based on his award-winning show in Australia, 'We Can Be Heroes: Finding Australian of the Year'. Ja’mie is a bitchy and spoiled exchange student from a private school who insults everyone at the public school she meets whether she means it or not, and doesn’t hesitate to tell her new friends she pities them for their meager surroundings:



She’s just one of the three characters Lilley inhabits -- another is “Mr. G”, a cutting and egomaniacal drama teacher at the school:



The last is Jonah Takalua, a Pacific Islander who probably resembles the most immature, disruptive kid you knew in high school -- as entertaining as they are annoying:



Each of the characters are so well-portrayed, you're disappointed when the POV switches away from, only to be excited to see what the next one is up to. They're like car accidents you simply can't look away from, and the interaction between them and their peers is so awkward you almost can't stand it. In that way, it reminds one of 'The Office', or that other HBO sit-com with the lead you love to hate, 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'.

Following the lead of those shows is a good place to start, but it's not enough. You still need to bring your unique flavor to the genre to make it work, and Lilley clearly has plenty of that to spare. I have a feeling we're only just beginning to get a taste.

Using the age-old Hollywood scale of judgment -- HIGHLY RECOMMEND/RECOMMEND/CONSIDER/PASS (circle one) -- I rate 'Summer Heights High':

HIGHLY RECOMMEND